Currently, light-emitting diodes (LED) are made of a heterostructure that includes a plurality of layers that each performs a specific function. One of the layers is called the active region which includes several quantum wells. In designing the LED, one objective is to confine the electrons and holes in the active region in order to force their recombination to emit a photon in the active region. The composition of material included in the active region determines the color of the light to be emitted from the LED. The photons being generated are then extracted out of the semiconductor. LEDs can be used for different applications such as general lighting, indicators, displays, etc.
The typical light producing area of current LEDs has dimensions between about 200×200 microns and 4 mm×4 mm. This has implications to the device performance, product design and cost. Practical imperfections of the LED lead to losses in efficiency that directly translates into heating and further reduction in performance and lifetime. Due to the fact that the heat generation occurs within a relative small volume adequate heat management components are required that make the LED package rather complicated and add additional costs to the final product. Small-sized LED chiplets that are distributed over a larger area might significantly improve this situation. Simple fabrication methods including printing of the small-sized LEDs might be combined with their deposition onto flexible substrates that enable a new class of LED products. Furthermore, small-sized LEDs might be implemented as individually addressable active optical elements in display applications.